Rylie Cruz 3 - How to Date a Demon (11 page)

I wanted to strangle him right there.
“Clearly, you were wrong about that. I’ll see to it that you lose
your job.” I leaned forward and glared at him.

“
I’m going to need your
files on this case,” Cole said.

Neil looked down. “Yeah, I can’t find
my files. I misplaced them.”

“
So you have no information
to give me?” Venom laced his words.

He shook his head. “No, I
don’t.”

Cole eye’s narrowed and his jaw
tightened.

I threw my hands up in disgust. “Well,
this is a big waste of time. Is this how you conduct all your
business transactions?”

Cole flared his nostrils. Was he mad
at Neil for messing up or mad at me for calling them out on their
ineptness? Or both?

Movement caught my attention and I
looked toward the window. I spotted Jennifer walk past. “What the
hell? She just went by the window,” I yelled as I jumped up from my
seat.

Neil and Cole jumped up and rushed
after me, but I was already outside on the sidewalk, dashing to my
right and looking for Jennifer. I knew I’d seen her, but what was
she doing? Had she been looking for me? Maybe she’d come to her
senses. A girl could dream, right? Maybe she had been looking for
Neil? But why? Although she had wanted him to join her in the
bedroom last night. Ugh. What a mess.

We took off down the sidewalk in hot
pursuit, but she was nowhere in sight. The chase would be a waste
of energy. I could tell these guys were demon hunters because my
speed was putting them both to shame. No wonder they couldn’t catch
the demons. Maybe I should start a side business. Show them how it
was done. I zipped by the old buildings with their intricate
ironwork adorning the windows, weaving around the people who
crowded the narrow streets of the Big Easy.

“
What’s the matter, boys,
you can’t keep up?” I chuckled internally.

We looked down every alley as we
whizzed past, but it was as if Jennifer had vanished. Well, I
whizzed and they wheezed as they tried to keep up. Had I really
seen her? Yes, there were only so many girls wearing that kind of
get-up. Most of the hookers didn’t hang out in that
area.

When I glanced over my shoulder, Neil
had stopped. He leaned down with his hands on his knees trying to
catch his breath. They were dropping off like flies. If I kept up
the pace, Cole would be the next to drop.

“
What do we do now?” I
asked.

Maybe Cole would get lost and then I
could find Jennifer. He was slowing me down. At first I’d thought
he might be able to help, but now I just figured he was dead
weight.

“
We continue to look for
her, that’s what,” he said between pants

“
Why don’t you go your way
and I’ll go mine. If I find her I’ll call you and you do the same,”
I said with a smirk.

Cole’s stare lingered a little longer
than I was comfortable with. Finally, he said, “As you
wish.”

Okay, now I was suspicious. He’d given
in to that a little too easily. “Fine then,” I said calling his
bluff. I expected him to relent, but instead he turned and walked
away. Whew. I was glad that scene was over.

After searching every place I could
think of within several blocks of our building and not finding
Jennifer, I decided to head home to see if she was there. With any
luck, she’d gone home.

I hurried back to my building. The
crowd on the streets was growing even larger, making it hard to
run. Jazz music whirled in the distance and couples held hands as
they strolled down the sidewalks. My heart ached. I’d thought the
curse on me had passed, but was all this chaos just another aspect
of that hex? There was always an obstacle blocking my way to find
true love. I longed to be strolling down this sidewalk hand-in-hand
with Jack. But maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.

Every time I glanced over my shoulder,
I expected to see Cole following me. Had I made the right decision
by letting him leave? Something about him made me uneasy and I
didn’t believe he had Jennifer’s best interests at heart. I wasn’t
about to lead him right to her.

Lily was waiting for me when I
returned to my office. That was the last thing I needed at the
moment. I didn’t want to hear any of her yammering on about wedding
favors and where to have her save-the-date photos taken. I didn’t
care. The best place for her to take the photos was far, far away
from me.

“
What do you want now, Lily?
I’m busy,” I said as brushed past her and made my way through the
door.

She followed close on my heels, not
taking the hint when I let the door close in her face.

“
You’d better be busy
planning my wedding.” She pointed.

This woman was truly out of her mind.
“I’m planning the wedding all right. Down at City Hall. Just elope,
for heaven’s sake.”

“
You’re not very romantic. I
would have expected more out of the supposed matchmaker.” She used
air quotes.

“
Jennifer is missing and I
have to find her, so excuse me if I don’t have time for your little
party.”

She let out a little sigh. “I
understand your dilemma, but you’d better find her and get back to
planning my event because you promised. It won’t be a pretty sight
if you don’t.”

“
I promised never to talk to
you again either and look where that’s gotten me.”

She sneered.

“
Are you threatening me,
Lily?” I asked.

“
Now would I do a thing like
that?” The corners of her lips tilted up in an evil
grin.

“
Yes, you would.”

How to Date a Demon, Rule
#11

Let sleeping demons
lie.

Lily stomped toward me with her
nostrils flaring. “Rylie, you can’t just leave me to do all this by
myself.”

“
I think you can handle it
until I have time to help. The wedding’s not until next
year.”

“
Well, that’s the thing.
We’ve moved the date up a bit.”

I stared for a beat, then asked, “When
is your wedding now, Lily?”

“
In one month.”

My eyes widened. “What? Why would you
do something like that?”

“
That’s none of your
business,” she snapped.

“
Well, I can’t help you.
Sorry.” I waved her off.

She plopped down in the leather chair
in front of my desk. “There are so many things to do.” She exhaled
loudly and batted her eyelashes. “And all the details. Come on…
there are caterers to find, a wedding dress to pick out, bridesmaid
dresses, which, of course, you know you have to pick out one that
looks good, but not too good, and lots of beef to order too. Where
are we going to get that much meat?”

I shuddered at the thought of what
type of wedding dress Lily would select, and heaven knew I did not
want to see the bridesmaid dress I would have to wear. Why had I
agreed to take on any of this mess? It just showed that I was
completely losing my mind.

Lily tapped her fingers against the
chair, drawing my attention back to the scary reality. “So, I’m
thinking that my colors should be brown and black, and of course,
I’ll be wearing white.”

I almost choked. “Of course, white.” I
concealed my smirk.

“
So help me, Rylie, if you
have any smart-aleck remarks about me wearing white I will beat
your ass.” She pumped her fist.

I rolled my eyes. How many times were
we going to have this conversation? Instead of paying attention to
Lily, I continued to search my list of numbers to see if anyone had
seen Jennifer. I didn’t know what else to do since she wouldn’t
answer her cell phone. The last thing I wanted to do was call her
mother. She’d just worry.

“
I think you will look
lovely in a white gown, Lily,” I said through gritted teeth.
“You’ll look just like an angel.” I plastered a fake smile on my
face.

Lily glared at me.

“
Anyway, a white dress is
fine, but brown and black are your colors?” I asked.

“
Yeah, you know, colors of
meat and maybe some red sprinkled around to look like
blood.”

What kind of sick and twisted event
had I signed on to be a part of anyway?

“
What the hell kind of meat
are you eating? No, never mind, don’t answer that.” I gestured in
disgust.

“
Werewolves want to eat
meat. I am a werewolf and if you weren’t a sorry-ass werewolf you’d
know that meat is the main part of a werewolf’s wedding
reception.”

Lily had reached a whole new level of
delusional.

“
Okay, I am done with this
conversation now. We can discuss this later. Real soon, okay?” I
tried to appease her without having to jump up and kick her butt
out of my office.

I needed to make calls to see if I
could find Jennifer and she was not helping the cause. I was done
with Lily for the day.

Lily eyed me up and down, then said,
“You’re looking for Jennifer?”

I smirked. “Duh, I just told you I
was.”

“
She was just behind your
window.” Lily pointed.

“
What?” I whirled around,
but didn’t see anyone. I moved over to the window and peered out.
“I don’t see her. Are you just yanking my chain?”

Why does she keep showing up and
disappearing? Why didn’t I see her? Was it a
coincidence?

“
As much as I love yanking
your chain, and as easy as it is to do it, no, I am not.” She
studied her fingernails.

I didn’t know whether to believe her
or not, but regardless, if Jennifer had been at the window, she
wasn’t there now. Was Jennifer losing her mind? Did she not
remember where she lived?

I dashed out the door and hurried
around to the back of the building. Unfortunately there was still
no sign of Jennifer. Puddles of water, trash cans, and a few empty
skids were all I saw. The sound of footfalls caught my
attention.

When I turned around, Lily was
standing behind me.

I held my chest. “I wish you wouldn’t
creep up on me like that.”

She furrowed her brow.

“
What was Jennifer doing?
Peering in the window? Why didn’t you say something sooner?” I
asked.

“
You didn’t ask.” She waved
off my question.

“
But you knew I was looking
for her.” I wanted to toss her out on her butt.

“
I figured she’d come
inside. Besides, I have more important things to worry about. My
wedding won’t plan itself and it looks as if I’ll have no help from
you.” She clenched her fists at her sides.

“
If you don’t stop f’ing
around with me, you won’t have to worry about a wedding.” I pointed
in her face.

Her eyes turned a glowing
yellow.

“
I’m not scared of you, Lily
Friedman. You need my help so you can just knock of the changing
your eye color thing. I can do it too, remember?”

“
Whatever. You’d better pick
up my call when I need you. I’ll be calling later to discuss the
cake.” She stomped off.

I’d love to stuff her face in a
cake.

With my hands propped on my hips, I
stood on the sidewalk wondering what to do next. A few people
walked by and gave me strange looks. I guessed they were wondering
why the crazy woman was standing in the middle of the sidewalk
staring blankly at nothing in particular.

What would Jennifer suggest if she
were here to offer advice? Then it hit me. If there was one person
who I thought would know all about demons, it was the voodoo
priestess next door. I had to pay her a visit pronto. I made my way
out and down the sidewalk toward her shop two doors
down.

I couldn’t believe I was actually
going in there by myself. Jennifer had practically dragged me in
there each time we’d gone. Sadly, she wasn’t with me today to drag
me in kicking and screaming. I had to pull up my hideous granny
panties that Jennifer made fun of so much and drag my ass in on my
own. Time to be a big werewolf.

But going into the shop was something
that had to be done. And now that I’d finally gotten rid of Lily
and Cole, I could look for Jennifer without any distractions. At
least I thought that was the case. So much for that
thought.

How to Date a Demon, Rule
#12

Don’t use phrases like “Hell
fire” in front of your date.

Cole was headed straight for me as I
moved down the sidewalk. I looked to my side to see if I could duck
out of sight. It was too late, he’d already seen me. This guy was
not helping me at all. He was just causing a distraction and taking
away valuable time that I could use to find Jennifer.

“
What do you want now?” I
snapped when he neared.

“
Good to see you again too.”
He smiled with a slight cockiness.

I frowned.

“
Where are you headed?” he
asked.

“
None of your
business.”